12 reasons you should care about mental health

There’s tons of stories in the news and on social media about mental health but, let’s be honest, how many people skim past them and think it’s not a subject that directly affects them.

In fact, some of the stats surrounding mental health paint a very different picture. We’ve collated 12 reasons which highlight why it should be an issue on everyone’s radar:

• More than 1 in 4 of us will be affected by mental ill health at some point in our lives
• 1 in 6 British workers are said to be dealing with stress, anxiety or depression at any one time
• Common mental health conditions including stress, anxiety and depression among employees add up to an estimated 70 million sick days every year in the UK
• Mental health issues are now the leading cause of sickness absences from work in the UK
• A survey by mental health charity Mind found that 95% of those workers who had taken time off due to workplace stress had given a different reason to their boss
• Mental ill health costs UK employers over £30billion a year, due to lost productivity, recruitment and absence
• In 2015 there were 6,639 suicides in the UK and Republic of Ireland
• The highest suicide rate in the UK is for men aged 40 to 44
• Male suicide rates are consistently higher than females in the UK and Republic of Ireland - 3 times higher in the UK and 5 times higher in Ireland
• Suicide rates in the UK among females are at their highest level in a decade
• 1 in 10 children have a diagnosable mental health disorder - roughly 3 children in every classroom
• Half of all mental health issues manifest by the age of 14 - 75% by the age of 24. 3 in 4 children do not get access to the support they need

Here's what LionHeart is doing to help improve mental health and wellbeing among RICS professionals. Read more:

LionHeart’s mental health in property project, the John O’Halloran Initiative

Counselling through LionHeart

Mental health awareness workshops

Wellbeing workshops